


Presentation

by zarabithia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Additional Warnings in Author's Notes, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Because There are Tentacles Instead of Knots, Borrowing some from Season 8 but mostly not, Dub-Con typical of ABO and heat cycles, Jealous Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mutual Pining, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Offscreen rape of characters not listed, Oviposition, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Post Season 7, Side Acxa/Krolia, Side Acxa/Veronica, Side Hunk/Shay/Matt, Side Krolia/Kolivan, Tentacles, side Alfor/Zarkon, side Allura/Lance, took a cookie cutter to season 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 07:04:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15990131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: Keith is hit by weird alien puberty that humans aren't equipped to handle.  Silly humans, lacking tentacles like abasicspecies.Anyway, it's a good thing that Haggar saw that weakness in Shiro and fixed that when she was making  the clone body.(Or, Keith/Shiro ABO with tentacles, instead of knots.)





	1. Keith's Amazing Weird Alien Puberty

The first time it comes up, Keith is spending two years getting to know a mother he'd always longed for. They are separated from his team and from the Blades, and Krolia takes advantage of the privacy to ask him. 

"Have you presented yet?" 

He looks over at her in mid-throw of a stick that the Wolf won't go fetch. 

"What do you mean?" Keith asks. "Presented what?" 

Krolia frowns deeply, and a chill runs through Keith. It's a warning sign, he thinks, at the time. 

But then time shifts around them, and the conversation is cut short because the first time that Keith had suffered through his father's "Birds and Bees" lecture had been bad enough. Sharing it with his mother was really and truly something he could have done without.

When it's over, her smile has replaced the deep frown, and Keith goes back to throwing sticks that Wolf won't catch. 

***

The next time it comes up, Krolia and Keith are alone in the Black Lion, and Keith is trying to ignore the powerful absence that Shiro left when he'd gone to keep Pidge company. 

He must not be doing a great job.

"You miss him," Krolia notes.

Keith double checks that all of the communications are set to private, before he answers her. 

"You heard him. He's worried about Pidge. He and the Holts were close, and he wants to be there for her, in case she wants to talk." 

It made sense. It would make more sense if Samuel Holt or Matt Holt were flying the Green Lion, but Keith supposes that's ... incredibly petty and childish. 

It's not becoming of the Paladin of the Black Lion.

The Black Lion herself rumbles something that could have actually have been a laugh.

"Hmm. He is a good man. And a good mate," Krolia says.

Keith grips his controls tighter and wonders if this is what it feels like to swallow his own tongue. 

"We are not mates," he said softly. "Shiro ... is like a brother to me." 

"There is so much about human and Galra mating habits that are different ... but not that different," Krolia says. "That is not the way you love a brother, Keith." 

Keith's knuckles are white and then they flash the palest of lavendar. He takes a steady breath, /Patience yields focus/, and then they flash back to the color they are supposed to be. 

It's not a conversation he can have with his mother. It's not a conversation he can have with Shiro. It's certainly not a conversation he can have with an indignant lion in his head.

"Galra and humans can't be that different in their mating habits," he says. "Or I wouldn't be here." 

"Our differences found a third option," she answers.

There are questions on the tip of Keith's tongue, but the galaxy has never stood still long enough for them to figure anything out, so of course, a battle interrupts what he should have asked.

***

When they leave his father's grave, Acxa is standing off in the distance. 

Keith is genuinely confused by this.

"I didn't think we were that good of friends," he tells his mother. 

His mother looks at him for a long moment, then sighs. "She isn't here for you," she says. "Or perhaps she is, but you are not ready yet. Nor do I think you will be compatible when you are ready." 

"What?" Keith feels rather indignant about that. "I know that I was injured, but -" 

"It has nothing to do with your injury," Krolia answers simply. "It has to do with biology. Look, Keith... your father's lecture on puberty was a good one, for humans. But it's incomplete. For Galra, mating is sometimes something that you must do, and you must pick the right partner. I will explain this more to you ... after I assist Acxa with what she needs." 

Acxa seems confused, at first, when it is Krolia who greets her. But when Krolia takes her arm, Keith can see Acxa visibly lean into the touch. Keith stands at the graveyard and watches as his mother leaves with the person who had declared her affection for him not too long ago. 

He's very confused, but he can hardly ask his mother, because apparently she has to "help" Acxa, which is something Keith doesn't want to think about at all.

He briefly entertains the idea of asking Kolivan, but he's pretty sure he'd rather go ressurect Zarkon and offer him a blow job than to bring his alien puberty problems to Kolivan's feet. 

***

The world is very confusing, but the one constant in his life is Shiro.

Seeing Shiro these days is very complicated. He has to go to another ship, and Keith feels very selfish and petty about how much he resents and hates Atlas for existing - for taking Shiro away.

That isn't fair, and Keith knows it. It's not even what really happened. But it feels that way - to him, if not to the rest of the team. 

("You can't hate Atlas. She saved us," Lance tells him over a plate of garlic knots.

" _Shiro_ saved us," Keith says stubbornly, and he takes the last garlic knot on purpose.) 

"Hello, Captain," he says once he arrives on the bridge. 

There are so many other people on the bridge. Keith should probably acknowledge them as well. He doesn't.

He doesn't because Shiro looks up from his spot at Veronica's station and smiles at Keith in a way that makes Keith's insides feel like the warm butter on Lance's stupid garlic knots. Keith doesn't care about anyone else on that bridge, because Shiro is striding over to Keith and placing a hand on his shoulder. 

Shiro smells so good. 

Which is a ridiculous thought to have. But he does, and Keith thinks he could bury himself into that massive chest and smell him for days.

"Hello, Leader of Voltron," Shiro says, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

Keith knows, in the back of his mind, that he feels the very same way that Acxa had looked when she'd left the cemetary with his mother. But he can't bring himself to care at that moment. 

***

The thing is, Keith isn't stupid. He knows that his affection for Shiro hasn't been "brotherly" since the day that Keith stole his car and the man had responded by bailing him out of jail.

("I just want to tell you. I think it's important that you know. Before you go to space. How I feel," Keith tells him, staring up at Shiro, knowing full well that he is in love with someone else who wasn't Keith. "I love you, Shiro." 

"I love you, too, Keith," Shiro says, breaking Keith's heart as kindly as he can. "You're like a brother to me.") 

But Shiro has set the terms for what their relationship is going to be, and Keith will always feel happy to accept whatever it is that Shiro wants to give. Shiro will never feel like a brother, but if it is a brother that Shiro wants Keith to be, then it is a brother that Keith will be.

So they sit together on a hover bike, looking out over the desert.

"How's things with your mom?" Shiro asks. "How'd the visit to your dad's grave go?" 

Keith shakes his head. "Well, it turns out that ... I may or may not have some weird Galra puberty thing going on that I don't know about." 

Shiro turns to look at him, giving him a once over that is cruel in a way he doesn't mean it to be. "I think you're a bit beyond puberty, Keith." 

Shiro's tone is unfair and devatasting and the sun framing that newly-white hair makes it even worse. 

"Let's hope so," Keith says. "Galra puberty doesn't sound fun." 

Shiro frowns slightly, as if he's remembering something. 

"Shiro? What is it?" 

"I..." Shiro shakes his head. "Nothing. Do you want to talk about your scary alien puberty?" 

"Nope. You want to talk about whatever memory you just had?" 

"Nope." Shiro places his goggles back onto his face and hops onto his hoverbike. "Guess that means we'll just have to race back to the Garrison." 

"Try to keep up, Old Timer," Keith retorts. 

"Is that anyway to talk to your Captain?" Shiro calls out.

Keith's stomach twists into knots that he understands the origins of quite well, thank you very much. 

***

A week later, Keith's stomach is still not feeling amazing, but it has nothing to do with Shiro. Hunk finds him and convinces him that what it probably needs is more "quality earth food to combat the whole multiple years of eating alien goo." 

His stomach does feel better once he begins to eat the burritos that the cadets always complained about. The feeling of relief exits him when he sees Kolivan enter the cafeteria, however. 

Kolivan is a much less frustrating prospect in Keith's life than he once was. But for some reason, when he comes to find Keith when Keith is in the middle of having lunch with Hunk, Keith is still annoyed. It is bad enough he isn't allowed to eat with Shiro because the Atlas needs to have the repairs personally overseen by the captain. It's worse that his actual lunch is being interrupted. 

He's annoyed in a way that he used to only get with Griffin, back before the galaxy had given them all a lesson in growing up that they hadn't ever been able to foretell. He's annoyed in a way that Lance tried to get him to feel, and in a way that makes Keith think of being stranded in space, with madness trying to claim all of them.

It's ... a weird way to react to Kolivan,and Keith doesn't understand it - which makes him more irritated.

"Keith, buddy, are you okay?" Hunk asks. 

He sounds concerned, which is normal for Hunk, and that feels good and warm and makes Keith lean over and squeeze Hunk's hand.

"I'm fine," he says.

Hunk looks at him like he's definitely lost his mind, and belatedly, Keith relizes that squeezing his teammates' hands at the table is not something he does a lot of.

Kolivan clears his throat. "I need you to come with me, Paladin." 

There's too much stress on Keith's title as a Paladin, but between Kolivan's presence and Hunk's confusion, Keith wants to leave the cafeteria, too.

"Fine," he says, getting up and leaving his plate where it sits. 

Kolivan pauses. "You should bring the rest of your lunch. It's important to keep up your strength." 

Keith is starving, but he very firmly and very deliberately pushes the plate over to Hunk. 

"I didn't have time to touch it, Hunk," he says. "It's all yours." 

"Uh, okay?" Hunk says, as Keith stalks out of the cafeteria, with Kolivan behind him.

***

Keith takes them back to his quarters. Keith isn't sure why. But it seems appropriate, even if it irritates him beyond what it should.

Kolivan pauses at the doorway, as if he is thinking about declining the offer. 

"I thought you wanted to speak to me," Keith says, crossing his arms. 

Kolivan looks at him warily, and Keith feels like he is being judged all over again. He wishes he knew why. He also wishes that Kolivan would just go away. The urge to push him away is so strong, actually, and Keith doesn't know why. 

A week ago, Keith had pretty much considered Kolivan family - a much beloved uncle or step father, perhaps. But now, all his presence does is annoy Keith, and there's no reason for that to be the case.

/Patience yields focus/ he chides himself, and it almost brings calm. 

Kolivan finally steps inside the quarters and glances around. "It gives privacy, but perhaps it would have been more appropriate to meet in your lion." 

"What is the problem, Kolivan?" Keith says, and his efforts to school his tone result in him sounding tired, instead of angry. That's an improvement, isn't it?

"You are beginning to smell," Kolivan says simply.

"What?" Keith says in confusion, because honestly, what else was there to say. "Did you.. pull me out of lunch to tell me that I needed to take a shower?" 

Kolivan folds his hands behind his back. "Taking a shower will not rid you of the Carrier smell, Paladin." 

"The what?" 

It is at that point that Kolivan takes a step back. He looks as confused at Keith does. "Your mother... did not tell you about the Carrier and Giver cycles? She must have noted your scent before she left to address Acxa's cycle." 

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Keith hasn't yelled at Kolivan in a very long time, but his temper bursts out, unwelcome. "Why can't you just tell me exactly what you mean so this conversation can be over?" 

Kolivan remains quiet for a long time. "Your mother is returning tomorrow. She may have this conversation. It is her place. In the meantime... you should be careful in your interactions with others. Do not allow yourself alone time with people you do not trust." 

Kolivan turns to leave, and Keith thinks that the cryptic bullshit is to be expected from the "Knowledge or death" people, but he still ends up curled on the bed, thinking that a nap is a great idea.

***

Keith wakes up later, feeling as though he has ran laps in the desert for hours.

He also wakes up to see Shiro sitting in the bed beside him. The larger of his hands is stroking Keith's hair, absently, and Keith thinks about not moving at all, just so he can sit there and feel that arm continue to offer comfort.

But Shiro is always a second faster and a minute wiser. 

"Are you alright, Keith?" Shiro asks.

"Did I miss something? A meeting?" Keith thinks that he probably had one. It sounds right, in the back of his mind, and he tries to get up.

But he doesn't want to, and he ends up sliding closer to Shiro instead. Shiro doesn't seem to notice the neediness, and his hand slides down, wrapping around Keith's shoulders. Keith is aware that the hand isn't that big and his own shoulders are so much wider than they used to be, but it still gives him a layer of comfort that he isn't expecting. 

In the back of his mind, he thinks that it feels like he is being _enveloped_ in a familiar warmth, and despite the fact that there is sweat clinging to his uniform top, he doesn't want to move. 

Shiro is looking down at him, Keith is aware of that. But he is also aware of the fact that Shiro is pulling him closer. 

This is the only kind of movement that Keith wants to allow.

"You did miss a meeting. Hunk said you didn't seem to be feeling well at lunch, though, so I thought I would check on you," Shiro says. "Kolivan looked like he wanted to disagree with Hunk, so I figured that was all the more reason to find you." 

"I'm not sick," Keith told him. "I think ... it's the Galra puberty thing. I think I was ... fondling Hunk." 

The hand _coils_ around Keith's shoulder, and Keith scoots closer still. Shiro doesn't pull away, and in fact, that huge arm of his curls around Keith's upper arm. 

"Hunk is a fine teammate and a good man," Shiro says quietly. "I'm sure the two of you could be happy together." 

Keith's brain is the kind of foggy that feels like he just woke up, even though he has been sitting here enjoying the feel of Shiro's limbs engulfing him. So it takes a while for Shiro's meaning to get through.

When it does, Keith laughs. "No, no. He's like a _brother_ to me." 

Shiro doesn't answer him, but Keith thinks that he feels a squeeze on his upper arm. It's nice, sitting here beside Shiro and being squeezed so tightly. 

***

Shiro is still there, when Keith wakes up. Keith hadn't planned on taking a nap, but he it feels like the right thing to have done. 

(It's not, the back of his mind whispers. The Galra are still out there. Voltron and her leader are still needed. The Captain of the Atlas is still needed. But it's a distant whisper, and the more he nuzzles into Shiro, the farther away those thoughts of reason become.) 

"Keith." 

It's another voice, and Keith feels Shiro begin to recoil away from him. 

It isn't fair, and Keith reaches out to grab him and pull him closer. 

"Keith." Shiro's voice is calm. It's too calm, Keith thinks. There's reluctance and something else under there, and maybe Keith would be able to recongize it, if he could just focus. 

But focusing seems like the hardest task in the world to ask of him right now. 

"You don't have to push him away, Shiro." The other voice speaks again, and Keith opens his eyes to see his mother. 

Her arms are folded across her waist and she doesn't look happy. She doesn't look angry either, but the soft smile she reserves for him is gone. She's alone and that seems odd for some reason. 

It takes him a moment, but then he remembers.

"Acxa," he says suddenly. "You should be with her." 

"No. Her cycle is over," his mother says quietly. "Though I expect you would like it if I was still with her. It's fortunate that her cycle was short." 

"Her cycle?" Shiro is speaking again, and his arms coil around Keith once again. They are warm and comforting; all Keith wants to do is stay in them. Shiro's voice is calming, and he absolutely doesn't to move away from that tight grip. 

"You sound as though you know of it," his mother is saying. "Your time as a prisoner, did it ...?" 

His mother trails off, which is odd, Keith thinks. She is never not direct, and the hesitation seems wrong. It seems as wrong as the fuzziness in Keith's head.

But Shiro is here, and Shiro will take care of it. 

"I. I had dreams," Shiro is saying, and there's pain in his voice, so Keith nuzzles his face more deeply into Shiro's chest to offer comfort. "Dreams of people being called Carriers and Givers. Of Haggar... believing me to be a Giver." 

"But you are human," Keith's mother says, as if it is a very important point and not an obvious one. "Your people do not have Givers and Carriers." 

"She kept saying that I was too strong not to be a Giver," Shiro says. "At least I think so. Not all of my memories are ... what they should be." 

"That's to be expected," his mother says, and there's a softness in her voice that Keith thinks he must be sharing with Shiro now. 

"I dream of tentacled beasts swallowing their partners whole," Shiro says, and his arms tighten again. "You can't mean that Keith is going to be subjected to that." 

"His father and I were uanware whether or not it would affect him, and he is presenting much later than a Galra would have.... but yes." 

"Which is he going to be? Is he going to have tentacles or ... is he going to be a Carrier?" 

It's hard figuring out what Shiro is feeling. It's never been hard for Keith,b ut it is now, because Keith can't figure out whether Shiro is furious or afraid. Keith wants to tell him that he doesn't have to be either, but his voice sticks in his throat. 

"He is a Carrier," his mother is saying. 

"No. No." Shiro's voice raises then, and there's anger seeping all over the room. Keith can feel it, deeper than normal, and it's amazing. Shiro isn't the violent one. He's the calmer one, even if he does jump off of cliffs with the same level of enthusiasm. Shiro can focus, is the point, even if he is doing a shitty job of it right now. 

"None of us get a choice in this, Shiro. It is not ... as unpleasant as I'm sure you witnessed under Haggar. We will find him a mate - " 

"No. I won't allow it." 

"It is not your choice." 

"He is no position to choose," Shiro argues. "I won't let him be ... taken advantage of." 

Why does Shiro suddenly smell so good? Keith tries to focus on that fact, instead of the fact that the two people he loves most are arguing. Shiro has smelled good for a while now, but at the moment, it's the best smell Keith's ever known. 

"You continually reject my son, yet you presume that you have his best interests in heart?" 

"I would never - "

"Mom. Shiro." Keith forces himself to sit up, and he hates it. He hates pulling away from Shiro. "Look, this is about ... crazy alien puberty, right? Whatever it is, I trust Shiro. I trust you too, Mom. But my head feels ... funny, and Shiro. Shiro will make the right choice."

There is a long pause, and his mother speaks again. "It will be very painful for him, if he does not mate. The first time especially. And you are not ... equipped. You cannot be. Even if ..." 

"Even if what?" Shiro asks.

"You almost ... smell like a Giver," she says eventually. "Even if that is impossible." 

"It doesn't matter if I was," Shiro says, and Keith gives up trying to sit up, and instead chooses to curl up next to Shiro again. Shiro takes his time, stroking Keith's face, as he speaks. "I wouldn't take advantage of him."

"You would let him suffer, then?" his mother challenges. 

Keith, safe in Shiro's arms, falls asleep in the silence that follows her question. 

~ 

Keith wakes again, far too hot. He wakes again, with Shiro's arms around him, but not in his bed. 

He's not in any bed.

"Shiro..." Keith's voice trails off as he tilts his head to look at Shiro. He tries to sit up, and his hand comes in contact with something slimy and wet against Shiro's back. Keith stops trying to sit up and lays back down on the floor. The substance on Shiro's back is thick, like gel, and it makes Keith think of lube. 

That doesn't make any sense. Why would Shiro have lube on his back? 

Maybe Keith just has lube on the brain, thanks to his ridiculous alien puberty. 

"We're in Black," Shiro says softly. "She still listens to me, apparently. Or maybe she just knew we needed to keep you safe." 

Keith reaches out to Black, but his head aches in reply, so he gives up. If Shiro can still talk to her, let him, he thinks. 

"Are we still on Earth?" Keith murmurs against Shiro's chest.

"No," Shiro says. "We're far away." 

"Away from tentacled beasts?" Keith asks. 

Shiro's breathing is labored and heavy, and Keith can feel him shift beneath Keith. The wet substance on Shiro's back slides further down Keith's hand. 

"Wasn't sure you got all of that conversation," Shiro comments. "You seemed pretty out of it." 

Shiro seems out of it now, Keith thinks. He wonders if Shiro had piloted them here, or if Black had done the honors. He wonders where "here" is. 

But they are brief thoughts, before Keith goes back to not caring about anything other than Shiro's arms wrapped around him, holding Keith to his chest. The artificial hand seems to squeeze Keith tighter each time Keith's fingers dig into the weird wet lube stuff on Shiro's back. 

"I got that I have weird alien puberty," Keith says. "Like Pon Farr, right?" 

Shiro hasn't laughed in so long, but he does now, and it makes Keith delirious with want. He closes his eyes and digs his fingers into Shiro's back, just to feel Shiro squeeze him again. 

The wetness beneath Keith's fingers doubles, and Shiro lets out a deep gasp that cuts off his laughter. Keith is momentarily saddened by the loss of something he has missed so much but the gasp is low and guttural and comes from a place that Keith has only heard in his dreams. 

"Thought you hated those science fiction shows," Shiro says. "Too silly for you." 

"I hated them because Adam loved them," Keith answers. 

It's too honest, Keith thinks. Too many beats later, he thinks that it is too cruel. Shiro had loved Adam, and might love him still. 

"I'm sorry," Keith whispers. His voice is far raw and full of feeling, but it's Shiro. Shiro would never judge him for being weak. Shiro is the only one Keith would allow to see that, on purpose. He team sees it, all the time, but ... not on purpose.

"Don't be," Shiro murmurs. 

Is that a kiss on his forehead? It's light enough that Keith can't tell if it's real or not. 

No. Shiro wouldn't be kissing him. 

Alien puberty is going to be hellish, if these are the types of delusions that he is going to be having. 

"You won't die without sex, but it will be ... uncomfortable," Shiro says. "The tentacles ... they'll just hurt you. I can't let that happen, Keith." 

"Okay," Keith says simply. "I trust you, Shiro." 

Keith leans his head on Shiro's chest, and frowns at jerky way it rises and falls beneath Keith's head. 

"You alight?" he asks. 

"I'm fine," Shiro promises. "It's my turn to save you, Keith." 

"Okay," Keith repeats, because there's nothing he wants to do less than to argue with Shiro. He should, maybe. Tell Shiro how many times he's already saved him.

But he doesn't want to. 

He wants to lie here, with Shiro wrapped around him, until the sudden chill that has overcome goes away. 

He's not too hot anymore; he's too cold, and Shiro's body offers the only relief for his discomfort. 

~~


	2. Shiro Is A Good Man, And That's A Problem.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro is going to protect Keith. No matter what it takes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note! There are lots of dub-con/non-con implications offscreen. None of it is explicit, but it's very clear that Shiro's exposure to Givers and Carriers was unpleasant (Shiro is not a victim of the non-con/dub-con at any point.) Please proceed with caution if that's going to upset you.

_"They're tentacles," Matt says to Shiro as they stand in line. His voice borders between a whisper and a horrified shout that Shiro can feel bubbling up, though whether it's inside of Matt or inside of Shiro, he can't quite say._

_Shiro doesn't have to be told about the tentacles. He's heard the whispers - just like Matt has - and now, in the arena in front of them, he can see them._

_The massive, super strong cat-like aliens apparently have a subspecies that grow tentacles out of their back. The one in front of them, in the arena, has seven equally massive slippery tentacles exploding out of their back. They're purple, just like the rest of the alien's body._

_So much has happened since they left Earth that Shiro can almost be unfazed by the sight of a cat alien looking like it's been ripped from a terrible anime._

_But the whispers grow more and frantic, the closer Matt and Shiro get to the front of the line, and the words "Giver" and "Carrier" are beginning to reach a level of use that borderlines on hysterical. The panic that should be exhausted by now has found a new reserve, and the fear that is plain all over Matt's face each time he turns to look back at Shiro has taken up residence deep in Shiro's stomach. It's spreading though, much the same way those tentacles seem to be doing._

_From his spot behind Matt, Shiro places a hand on his shoulder. He wants to offer some sort of comfort, but he doesn't know what he could say to offer that would be anywhere near comforting._

**

There is something considerably different about this body.

Shiro doesn't know how to place it, because it isn't an ache. He has grown used to aches and pains, and learning how to differentiate between all of them. He has spent his entire life doing that, while also learning to hide any change, because it might be deemed to be the one change that stood in the way of his dreams.

But from the moment that he is pulled from the Black Lion's consciousness and put back into a body that had been inhabited by a clone, he senses that something is different.

He senses it, even when he is resting in Keith's arms.

But there is an abundance of memories flooding his mind, and Keith's relief and happiness are so present that Shiro thinks he could touch them, if he just reached out to do so.

So the knowledge that something is different is not allowed to become a concern, before Shiro leans back and breathes in Keith's scent.

It's so important to do so.

**

_Matt is safe._

_Matt is safe because Matt's blood is on Shiro's hands. He knows he will think about that blood later, and no matter how little of it, and the pain in his stomach will grow._

_But for now, Matt is safe. Shiro hears it, among the soft roar of the crowd. "Put him with the other one."_

_For now, Shiro will take that to mean that Matt is going to work with his father. It is a hope that Shiro will cling to, because he cannot see himself doing anything else._

_The man that Shiro has bested lays at his feet, and the crowd doesn't seem know what to do with that information. The words grow louder in his head, as the crowd begins to get closer._

_Be begins to wonder if he can use the crowd's confusion as a distraction in order to escape. But before he can do so, two Galra are at his side, holding him in place. If he moves, he knows that they will not hesitate to use the weapons they are pointing at him._

_If he dies, he can't get word back to Earth about these people._

_One of his guards speaks then. "We were wrong about you. You are not suited to relieve a Giver's frustration."_

_"What is a Giver?" Shiro asks._

_"You can ask Haggar," one of his guards tells him._

**

He sleeps on the bed, in Black, because Keith insists on it.

"You're still healing," Keith says, and his chin lifts up stubbornly, in the kind of defiance that is rare on his face these days.

"You got beat up pretty bad, too," Shiro says, and he reaches out to touch the scar on Keith's face. He doesn't mean to, but it seems like such a compelling need...

Keith doesn't pull away, at all. In fact, his hand reaches up and cups Shiro's hand. "This isn't your fault," Keith says stubbornly. "Evil clone, remember?"

Shiro wonders if he will ever feel that way. "That might be so, but the evil clone worked you over. And it's your lion now. You should get the bed."

"You could share," Krolia comments from her spot on the floor.

Keith's eyes widen then, and though he doesn't pull away, Shiro can feel his embarrassment all over. Shiro supposes, all these years later, that the memory of a confession that Keith no longer feels must be causing him discomfort. He should have thought before he reached out and .... well, fondled Keith.

Shiro removes his hand. He can feel Krolia's look on him, but he doesn't know why.

"That's a bad idea," Keith says gently. "Besides, if it's my lion, then I get final say. You get the bed, Shiro."

He could be stubborn, but the feel of Keith in Shiro's hand lingers, even after he has broken contact. The feel lingers in a way that ... doesn't make any sense, and for a moment, Shiro stands there, staring down at his hand and wondering if there is a flaw to this body that he doesn't realize.

_The Red Paladin's connection to you runs deep. Deeper than the other paladins..._

Is that Haggar's voice? The clone's voice? Or ... no, it cannot be Black's voice. Shiro's connection there is gone. But the memory is loud in Shiro's mind regardless.

That night, Keith sleeps on the floor next to Shiro, and Shiro gets very little sleep. When he does, he dreams of purple monsters, tentacles, and violations that he would never allow.

It's the last night he spends in The Black Lion.

**

_"You are not a Galra," the woman who Shiro presumes is Haggar says as she looks down at him. "We have never met a non-Galra who was a Giver._

_Strapped to a table and unable to move, Shiro's temper is short. The knowledge that he should pull in his temper so that he can make it home safe and warn Earth momentarily escapes him._

_"I don't know what that means!" he snaps, and his tone is full of the kind of hate that Shiro has never known before._

_"And yet, you behave like one," Haggar says, ignoring him entirely. "Protective. Strong. Brave. Victorious. All things that a good Giver should be."_

_There is another Galra beside her, tall and male, and frowning at her words. He looks different than the other Galra that Shiro has seen. Paler, more white on his face, and a solitary strip of white hair down the middle._

_"What do you intend to do with him?" the other Galra asks Haggar._

_"There are so many possibilities," Haggar says, and for a brief moment, Shiro imagines that he sees sympathy on the male Galra's face._

**

There is nowhere that Shiro would rather be, than at Keith's side after the battle. So he sits there, at the hospital bed and stares at that huge bandage around Keith's head.

Maybe he shouldn't have left Black, just because things had been uncomfortable. Maybe he shouldn't have left, just because his dreams were haunting him.

Guilt grows inside of him, and he takes Keith's hand and relishes how it feels in his own. It is different. Here, with a Keith who might slip away from him, Shiro doesn't want to reject that difference.

It is a difference he hadn't felt when he'd moved to Green. It's not a difference he feels with any of the other Paladins.

_The Red Paladin's connection to you runs deep. Deeper than the other paladins..._

Yes, Shiro thinks, and he refuses this time to let go of the hand. It is a connection that has defied death more than once, and it must do so again.

From across the room, Kolivan is looking at him strangely. Shiro figures that it is because the Blades are supposed to hate having emotional attachments. That must have driven Kolivan crazy when Keith had been training with them, Shiro thinks, and later, perhaps, he will be ashamed of how smug he feels over it.

"Your interactions with Atlas are commendable," Kolivan says finally.

Shiro entwines his fingers around Keith's, and doesn't bother to look over to Kolivan's corner. "Thank you," he says, but he is not sure he would bother, if Keith's mother hadn't also been in the room.

"I wouldn't have thought it was a feat that a human could have accomplished," Kolivan continues.

"The body isn't," Shiro says absently. "Technically."

"Indeed," Kolivan says.

Perhaps something else would have been said, had Krolia not spoken up. "Drop it," she says, and whatever authority she has over Kolivan's line of questioning is not tested.

Shiro's fingers stroke along each one of Keith's, taking time to feel every inch of his skin in his grasp.

**

_It has been so long since Shiro has been free of either the examination table or the arena that he almost doesn't know what to do with the extra room he's been given. It's about the standard size of a Garrison room back on Earth - not the kind he and Adam had shared, but the kind that is designed for lower level students._

_For a moment, Shiro thinks of Keith, and his heart seizes in his chest._

_"I'll be waiting on you to get back, Old Timer."_

_When the door opens, Shiro doesn't have time to react before someone else is thrown in; it's someone familiar._

_The Galra who had been with Haggar that first day, except he looks ... unwell. Shiro doesn't have time to be upset at the fact that the door shuts too quickly for him to escape before he is kneeling down next to the Galra._

_"Are you alright?" he asks. "Do you need help?"_

_The Galra looks up at him and then turns his nose to breathe deeply into Shiro's wrist. It is ... the most deeply disturbing thing that Shiro has witnessed since his arrival, though Shiro can't quite figure out why. Still, it unsettles him._

_The Galra turns his eyes up at him, and murmurs, "Compassion. Another valued trait of a Giver. But I smell... nothing."_

_"I don't ... smell anything, either," Shiro says, and from the look on the Galra's face, it is not the answer he wanted to hear._

_"A pity," the Galra says. "For us both."_

**

Keith has been healing nicely now for an amount of time that at least Shiro and Keith think are appropriate before taking flight off of a cliff. The bikes are old and rusty and respond almost too slow to two people whose skills have been honed and sharpened in war.

"You sure you're healed enough?" Shiro teases as they mount their bikes.

Keith shoots him a glare from beneath hair that had to be trimmed in order to tend to his wound appropriately. Shiro finds himself wondering if it will grow back sooner than normal thanks to his Galra heritage.

God, he hopes so.

"If you want to take a break, Old Timer, just let me know," Keith retorts.

Shiro smirks and slides his goggles into place.

They end up the same place their races always end, and Shiro is pretty sure that he can see the very shack where Voltron had begun its journey, all those years ago. He glances over at Keith, as both of them take their time to allow their hearts to slow back down from the adrenaline of their race.

He's grown so much. For not the first time, Shiro feels a stirring of something he's not sure he should. He knows, of course, that Keith had once had ... feelings for him, and his love for Shiro will most likely never be matched. But twice since they left Earth together, Keith has called Shiro a "brother."

When Shiro had said those words, many years ago, he'd meant them. If that's how Keith feels now... it wouldn't be fair to burden Keith with Shiro's own feelings, which had shown up far too late.

"How's things with your mom?" Shiro asks. "How'd the visit to your dad's grave go?"

Keith shakes his head. "Well, it turns out that ... I may or may not have some weird Galra puberty thing going on that I don't know about."

Puberty? Shiro glances over at the tall, handsome man that stands beside him. "I think you're a bit beyond puberty, Keith."

Maybe next time, he can say that without sounding like he wants to rip Keith's clothes off of him, Shiro thinks with despair.

Keith looks at him for a long moment, which is appropriate when your brother starts sounding like a horny old man. Then he shrugs into the outstretch of the desert.

"Let's hope so," Keith says. "Galra puberty doesn't sound fun."

 _"There are so many possibilities."_ Haggar's voice is so clear in his head, and it is accompanied with flashes of purple limbs twirling and twisting. For a moment, the memory is so vivid that he has every urge to take Keith into his arms and protect him.

From what, Shiro isn't sure.

"Shiro? What is it?"

"I..." Shiro shakes his head. "Nothing. Do you want to talk about your scary alien puberty?"

"Nope. You want to talk about whatever memory you just had?"

"Nope." Shiro places his goggles back onto his face and hops onto his hover bike. "Guess that means we'll just have to race back to the Garrison."

"Try to keep up, Old Timer," Keith retorts.

"Is that anyway to talk to your Captain?" Shiro calls out.

**

_"There are those who believe compassion to be a trait for a Giver," Haggar says as Shiro is strapped once again to a table._

_He struggles to get free. Always, he struggles. No matter how futile it is, Earth needs to know about the threat._

_Besides, he made a promise to Keith._

**

Shiro knows something is wrong the minute that Pidge is the second Paladin to enter the meeting room, and not Keith.

Keith is never late - not these days - and it's a testament to everything that he has grown into.

His bad feeling continues to grow as Hunk comes in next, looking confused, and more than a little concerned.

"Hey, has anyone seen Keith?" Hunk asks. "He seemed pretty sick at lunch."

"Sick?" Shiro asks in surprise. "That's very new for Keith."

"Yeah. I mean, it didn't seem to be a bad kind of sick? Just a ... acted really strange kind of sick. Maybe a fever. Do fevers make you ... uh. Extra fond of people?"

Shiro can hear Kolivan's displeasure, and he turns to look at the Galra. Maybe Shiro looks irritated enough at whatever might Kolivan doesn't say to make Kolivan be quiet.

But whatever the case may be, the meeting passes without Keith showing up. Worry distracts Shiro like nothing else ever has. It's ... worry and something else.

Half-way through the meeting, while Admiral Holt is talking, Shiro realizes it's anticipation.

**

_"Compassion should not be a Galra trait," Haggar tells him. "Neither Giver nor Carrier."_

_"I still don't know what those words are," Shiro spits out, anger and frustration eating at him as he jerks against metal that won't give. "But you don't have to tell me that compassion isn't something your people know about."_

_"It makes for a weak empire," Haggar says. "And fear not, I think it is time you know what a Giver and a Carrier are."_

_There is a screen in front of Shiro, so advanced and his heart aches because he knows both of the men he came to space with would have loved to have gotten their hands on this tech._

_On screen, the same Galra who had sniffed his arm hours before is lying on a couch. Another Galra who Shiro does not know comes into the screen._

_While one wriggles as if he is in pain, the other removes his uniform._

_"No," Shiro says immediately. "I don't want to watch this."_

_He jerks harder on the restraints, but Haggar does nothing. She doesn't say anything, either, as if Shiro's discomfort and the loyal Galra subject in front of them mean equally little to her._

_On screen, tentacles burst from the Galra standing up right. First one, then another, and another._

_Seven tentacles in all, and one wraps around each of the injured Galra's limbs, holding him in place. There are three remaining, and the horror that Shiro feels about what those might be for are realized as the standing Galra uses to of his tentacles to rip the other Galra's uniform off of him._

_Shiro turns his head, but he cannot prevent the sounds from reaching his ears._

_"Compassion," Haggar says. "No place for it in the Empire, and no place for it for a Giver."_

**

Keith doesn't wake up at the sound of Shiro walking around, and it bothers Shiro. He sits on the edge of Keith's bed and reaches over to feel Keith's forehead. He's warm, incredibly so. Keith is always warm, something that Shiro can now attribute to being part Galra, but he feels even more warm now. Sweat coats Shiro's hand, and he wipes it on his uniform.

But something compels him to bring the hand up and sniff. In the back of his mind, Shiro thinks that must be bizarre. But in the moment, Shiro thinks about how good Keith's sweat smells. Sweat ... shouldn't ... smell good, but rubbing his nose into the palm of his hand feels Shiro with the same jubilation as he feels when he is riding his bike as fast as it will go, with Keith at his side, miles away from the Garrison.

The warm feeling in his chest abruptly ends, when Shiro's memories conjure up those purple tentacles that he can't stop having dreams about; he wipes his hand vigorously on his uniform, in a desperate bid to be rid of its effects.

He turns his focus onto Keith, who is still breathing and fine. Taking naps had always been something that you couldn't get Keith to do very much of, so Shiro will take it as a win.

His metal hand slips over and begins to thread through Keith's hair; it's an absent measure in the beginning, but Shiro has to admit that it feels nice.

He doesn't have time to wonder if that means he should stop, before Keith begins to stir beneath him. He opens his eyes and blinks slowly up at Shiro, clearly in no hurry to move.

"Are you alright, Keith?" Shiro asks.

"Did I miss something? A meeting?" Keith asks, his words fuzzier than normal. He sounds like he is trying to figure out something very difficult, and he scoots closer to Shiro, so that his head rests on Shiro's lap.

His new arm is so large, and it's so easy to pull Keith close. It's made even easier by the fact that Keith takes the opportunity to nuzzle his face into Shiro's thigh.

It's torturous. It's delightful. It's both.

"You did miss a meeting. Hunk said you didn't seem to be feeling well at lunch, though, so I thought I would check on you," Shiro says. "Kolivan looked like he wanted to disagree with Hunk, so I figured that was all the more reason to find you."

"I'm not sick," Keith told him. "I think ... it's the Galra puberty thing. I think I was ... fondling Hunk."

Shiro is not prepared for that level of jealousy. It feels petty, because in his heart, he knows and believes that Keith deserves the very best. Of all of the paladins, Hunk and Keith would probably work out the best together; their edges contrast in a way that would only smooth out each other's weaknesses and make the other stronger.

But then, Acxa seems nice, too, and Shiro cannot deny the inherent sense of irritation and annoyance he feels every time she is near.

It's foolish, cruel, and selfish. Keith has moved on from his crush, and Shiro cannot take back the no he gave years ago simply because he is feeling jealous. It isn't fair, and Keith deserves so much more.

He looks down at Keith, and allows his hand to curl around Keith's shoulder. That's not enough contact for his greedy heart, apparently, because his hand slips down and curls around Keith's arm.

purple, purple, purple, purple... curling, twisting, claiming.

The horrifying memories stop abruptly when Keith scoots closer still. Any closer and Keith would literally be on Shiro's lap.

"Hunk is a fine teammate and a good man," Shiro says quietly. "I'm sure the two of you could be happy together."

Shiro tries to picture that. He tries to picture a wedding, with him standing in place as the best man. He tries to picture how happy everyone would be for them, how over joyed Krolia would be, and how happy Keith would be.

It's everything Keith (and Hunk) deserve, and it breaks his heart. He ignores his selfish heart and all the ways it wants to ignore the loyalty he will never betray to the man in his arms.

Abruptly, Keith laughs. "No, no. He's like a brother to me."

The relief that floods through him is not something that Shiro can control, nor is the way that his arm tightens even more around Keith. They sit there for a long time, Keith sleeping against Shiro. Even when Krolia comes to see them, Keith doesn't want to move.

Krolia doesn't seem surprised.

Shiro doesn't mean to argue with Krolia. He thinks the world of Krolia, and everything good in Keith, he can see reflected easily off of his mother. In a better universe, she would have been the mother she wanted to be; in a better universe, Keith would have been given 21 years with the mother he deserves.

But he cannot agree to what she is proposing. A mate for Keith, and not just any mate, a Galra who would submit Keith to ... unimaginable things.

He isn't jealous, he tells himself. He's protective.

He will protect Keith. He will, because Keith has already done so many times before.

Unfortunately, his attempts to argue sense with Krolia make Keith wake up.

"Mom. Shiro." There's a bit of the old stubbornness in Keith's voice when he says their names. He pulls away from Shiro, and Shiro absolutely hates it. But the choice belongs to Keith. "Look, this is about ... crazy alien puberty, right? Whatever it is, I trust Shiro. I trust you too, Mom. But my head feels ... funny, and Shiro. Shiro will make the right choice."

Krolia takes her time to reply. When she does, she speaks to Shiro, not to Keith. "It will be very painful for him, if he does not mate. The first time especially. And you are not ... equipped. You cannot be. Even if ..."

She trails off, looking increasingly confused. Shiro feels sympathy for her confusion, because it mirrors his own.

"Even if what?" Shiro asks.

"You almost ... smell like a Giver," she says eventually. "Even if that is impossible."

"So strong. Just like a Giver. And yet, no non-Galra ever have been." The memory is so loud, and Shiro briefly closes his eyes, to will the memory away.

"It doesn't matter if I was," Shiro says, and Keith gives up trying to sit up, and instead chooses to curl up next to Shiro again. Shiro takes his time, stroking Keith's face, as he speaks. "I wouldn't take advantage of him."

"You would let him suffer, then?" Krolia demands.

"I would protect him," Shiro says softly.

Krolia glances at her son, and Shiro resists the urge to pull Keith even closer to him. Distantly, he reminds himself that Keith doesn't need protected from his mother, but it is a thought that is in desperate chance of losing to the part of Shiro that wants to keep Keith near him and safe.

"Your efforts to protect him have hurt him before," Krolia says.

She says it flatly, with no judgement in her voice, but her words wound as well as if they had been delivered by the blade she had left behind on Earth.

"You have seen his memories," Shiro says. "You know the circumstances. What else would I have done? What else could I have done?"

"You will ask yourself that many times, Shiro," Krolia says "over the next few days. Keith has made his choice and I will ... I cannot force another choice upon him. That is the way of the Empire, but is not the way of all Galra - no matter what you might have seen during your capture."

Shiro's throat is dry, and his back suddenly aches. It's distracting, in a way that it shoudln't be, but to be fair... he's not had any pains in this body since they figured out how to fit the new arm.

When he addresses Krolia, his voice and his patience are strained. "I will take care of Keith."

"I hope so," Krolia says. "His father and I ... my cycles ceased while I was on Earth. I believed it to because of my pregnancy, and the lasting effects of carrying a hybrid child, but ... perhaps you will be enough. If that is the choice you make."

"Never," Shiro says and the growl in his throat is not meant for her, cannot be meant for her.

She looks at him for a long moment. "For his sake, I hope that isn't true," she says, and she departs.

**

_"Kill me," the opponent says as Shiro stands in front of him. "When this is over, if you win, kill me. If I win, I will grant you the same release."_

_Shiro does not know where the man is from, or even if it is a man; he can only guess. The alien is tall, bulky, and looks as though his skin would be rough to the touch. He will be difficult to best, and Shiro is not sure that he can._

_"That eager to die?" he asks._

_But the stranger is not the first to request it._

_"You know what the losers are for," the opponent says. "I do not wish to be a plaything for the Galra guards who are away from their mates."_

_It is a terrible request, but they are fighting for much more than their lives here, so when Shiro delivers the final blow, he makes it a merciful one._

**

When Shiro decides to go, he is smart about it. He knows that the Paladins will be attending their nightly routines, and he knows what they are. He knows he won't run into any of them.

He also knows that Krolia and Kolivan have a meeting with Iverson and Samuel Holt. It is one that Shiro is supposed to be attending. They will look for him, but it will give him time to get to where he needs to go. They might even have the meeting without him, and think he is staying there, in the room with Keith.

He will not. He will protect Keith instead.

It should be more difficult, perhaps, than it is, to transport the leader of Voltron to the Black Lion while carrying him. People occasionally stop to look at him in the hall, but then they straighten, and regard Shiro as "Captain," respectfully, before continuing on their way. Only James is an issue, and only because James is a stickler for rules.

Shiro could respect that on another day.

"Is Keith alright?" James asks, taking up valuable moments of Shiro's time.

"Keith will be fine once he gets to the Black Lion," Shiro says firmly.

"Do you need some assistance, Captain?" James asks. "I could - "

Shiro's voice is unnecessarily short when he answers, "I do not, and Keith has never wanted your assistance, James. Carry on with your duties."

James straightens then, and his face turns pink, before he nods. "Y-yes, Captain."

Keith stirs in Shiro's arms and murmurs against his shoulder. "What a beautiful dream. You being mean to my nemesis."

Shiro continues on his way to Black, and does not allow himself to become distracted by anyone else.

He stands in front of her, with Keith in his arms, and cries out with a desperation even he can hear in her own voice, "Please. I know we no longer share a bond. But he needs your help. We. We have to keep him safe."

In his arms, Keith's sweat has completely drenched not only Keith's uniform, but the entire front of Shiro's as well. Maybe it's starting to the coat the back as well, because Shiro can feel the back of his uniform getting wet.

Keith is asleep, and it is only Shiro who can beg for Black's mercy, not her rightful Paladin.

"Please," Shiro says, and his tone is both angry and fearful.

_Begging is not necessary, my Paladins._

Shiro does not have time to fully process the fact that his connection with Black is still there, before her mouth opens, and she allows them in.

"Take us somewhere. Far away. We need to allow Keith time to heal," he tells Black.

She doesn't argue, and she lurches into the sky while Shiro takes himself and Keith down on the floor, next to the bed. It's only logical. The bed is not big enough for them both, and Shiro will not let Keith go.

***

_"So strong," Haggar murmurs, and the voice sounds far away, because the drugs that the Galra give are more powerful than any Earth has to offer. Here, in this empire full of terrible people, the cure for Shiro's disease might actually exist._

_But it's a disease that, in the bitterest of ironies, the Galra do not care about. They care only about his "strength."_

_"This body has so much strength. Imagine if we combined that with Galra strength. The result might be a true Giver," Haggar says._

_Shiro is still in the middle of figuring out what that means when the unimaginable pain of having his arm removed cuts through all of the drugs and distracts him from other thought._

 

**

Shiro does not know how long they have been in space when the true pain begins.

His back has been bothering him for a while, but concentrating on Keith has been his priority. Now that Keith is safe, and they are away from Earth, Shiro can't deny the pain that begins just below his neck and travels all the way down his spine.

It makes him remember things he does not want to remember.

Black is surprisingly unhelpful on that front. Sensing his distress, she gives him images of Zarkon, first with Alfor and then with Honerva.

"That isn't happening," he says sharply. More sharply than Black deserves.

_Why not?_

"Won't hurt him," Shiro says firmly. "I can't. I already have."

Won't hurt him.

A vision of Zarkon in the middle of an orgasm is the last thing Shiro ever wanted, but it is what Black gives him. He retaliates with his vision of Ulaz.

_Not you._

Shiro ignores her.

They land, and Shiro continues to be unable to keep track of how much time has passed. The pain and leaking in his back continues. Each time he wonders what might be wrong with him, his mind is filled with tentacles; he does not know if they are Black's fault or his own memories.

But then Keith awakens, and those beautiful eyes look more purple than ever. Keith wakes and snuggles closer to Shiro. His hand digs into Shiro's back, and it feels like static electricity all over Shiro's body. He doesn't move, because part of him wants Keith to continue. But he doesn't ask for that, instead allowing Keith to make fun of old science fiction shows and his own 'alien puberty.'

"You won't die without sex, but it will be ... uncomfortable," Shiro says. "The tentacles ... they'll just hurt you. I can't let that happen, Keith."

"Okay," Keith says simply. "I trust you, Shiro."

Keith leans his head on Shiro's chest, but only for a moment, before he looks back up at Shiro. "You alight?" he asks.

"I'm fine," Shiro promises. "It's my turn to save you, Keith."

It's his turn, and no amount of pain or selfish want or tentacle monsters will come between Shiro and that vow.

"Okay," Keith repeats.

He lays his head back down, and Shiro is relieved at the easy smile that comes over his face.

He's going to be okay, Shiro thinks.

 _Up to you_ is Black's opinion.

Shiro ignores her and focuses on the rise and fall of Keith's chest, and on his suddenly cool to the touch skin. It's a change... but surely, it's a good change, right?


	3. In Which Black Would Really Like Them To Get Their Shit Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that this is not quite the last chapter! Next chapter will be the last.

"I'm cold," Keith murmurs into a chest that feels familiar when it shouldn't, and is covered in sweat, despite how cold it is.

"You shouldn't be. It's burning up in here," Shiro says. 

There's something wrong with Shiro's voice, Keith realizes. It's not as solid as it normally is. There's a shakiness there, in his voice, that reminds Keith of a time before, when Shiro had revealed his sickness to Keith.

Keith is so cold it is almost impossible for him not to shiver, but he forces himself to tilt his head up, away from Shiro's chest and look into Shiro's face.

Shiro's bangs are slicked down, heavy with sweat that makes them cling to his forehead. 

"You're sick," Keith states. Coldness reaches down and wraps around his bones, but he forces himself up into a sitting position regardless. 

As he sits up, his hands pull away from Shiro's back and they are covered with both blood and a thick, slimy substance that Keith still thinks feels like lube.

"You're bleeding," Keith says, and his mind is already calling out to Black. _Home_ he urges. _We have to go._

 _No,_ Black answers back simply. There's nothing more, and Keith can't remember Black ever being this silent towards him. The lion is _ignoring_ him. 

Red would never. 

The disbelief makes Keith even more disoriented than he already is, and he turns back to Shiro.

"You're _bleeding_ ," Keith repeats.

"Haggar," Shiro says. 

Shiro takes Keith's hand, covered in blood and thick slime, into his own hand. 

For a moment, Keith feels warm all over, and the urge to scoot closer to Shiro is one that Keith cannot resist. As he scoots closer, Shiro attempts to clean Keith's hand, as futile as the attempt might be. 

"What did she do?" Keith asks. It's so hard to focus, but focusing on Shiro is so important. It's _always_ been so important. 

Shiro shakes his head, and Keith knows that it's an attempt to pacify him. 

"You're _bleeding_ ," Keith says, more forcefully. 

"The clone body," Shiro says, his voice sounding as though he has ran twenty laps around the Garrison, instead of lying here beside Keith. "She made it stronger." 

"Impossible," Keith says. "Strongest man I know." 

Shiro closes his eyes, and Keith knows that it is pain that is causing the creases between Shiro's eyebrows.

"Need to take you home," Keith insists. "Can't lose you again." 

"Won't," Shiro swears. "Going to stay here and keep you safe." 

Shiro has given up trying to clean Keith's hand with his own and is now wiping the blood and thick goo off onto the lower half of his own Garrison uniform. The top half has been discarded, elsewhere, and Keith rips his hand away from Shiro's uniform in order to stroke his fingers down the white hair that covers Shiro's chest. 

It's a comfortable place for Keith's hand, and again, the chill that Keith can't seem to shake seems to momentarily fade. 

Shiro shakes beneath Keith's fingers, and part of Keith knows he should get up and try to fly them out of there.

 _No_ , Black echoes in his head, and part of Keith agrees that right here, right now, curled up next to Shiro is more important than getting home.

He means to keep his eyes open, so he can keep a close watch on Shiro, but he loses that battle beneath the warmth that starts to take him over and the feeling of peacefulness that results from being wrapped in Shiro's arms.

***

In Shiro's arms, Keith dreams. 

The dreams are choppy, scenes coming and going in successive waves of images. Some are of Zarkon and Honerva, some are of Zarkon and Alfor... some are of species and Galra that Keith can't place.

And then there's Shiro. Shiro, with seven purple tentacles, each one sliding over a different patch of Keith's skin, leaving behind warmth wherever they go. 

In his dreams, Keith arches up into those tentacles and there's nowhere else he wants to be. He wants to feel them - over him, beneath him, and _in_ him.

***

It's frustration that makes Keith wake up, and fear that makes him move.

Shiro is no longer lying next to him. Instead, Shiro has moved, as far away as he can be from Keith and still be inside the lion. He's hunched over, the shadow of the pilot chair hiding most of his body, but Keith can still make out his face and arms. 

Something else is in there with him, it looks like. 

"Shiro?" 

Keith tries to stand, but it's a pointless endeavor. The cold and the heat have been replaced by a solid ache in every part of Keith's body. Standing seems like the greatest task that Keith could even begin to imagine. 

So he crawls instead. 

"Keith." Shiro's voice is so strained, and it makes Keith even more determined to make his way to him. 

"What's wrong, Shiro?" Keith asks. "What did Haggar _do_?" 

Something is moving next to Shiro, and Keith tries to focus on what it is. Something quick and purple. Keith remembers his dreams, but they hadn't been real, had they? They couldn't be real, could they? 

"Gave me alien puberty too, it looks like," Shiro says. "Please, Keith, don't ... don't come closer." 

But Shiro sounds like he is in pain, so how could Keith listen?

"But you aren't ... " Shiro isn't Galra. But Keith abandons the thought, because Haggar could have done it. Of course she could have. 

Keith collapses a few feet from Shiro, unable to force his body to go further. "The blood," he says. "Your puberty? Doesn't look like mine."

"You're a Carrier," Shiro explains. "I'm... she made me a Giver." 

Keith lies still on the floor, and his bones feel like they are on fire, but he forces himself to say, "I still don't know what that means." 

Before his eyes close, he sees something long, black and purple slide across the floor; he is vaguely aware of something moist sliding over his cheek.

It feels warm and possessive, and it smells like Shiro.

***

Keith doesn't know if he's dreaming. 

Shiro keeps shifting, restlessly, a few feet away from him. Long wet tendrils keep framing Keith's face, Galra purple on the underside and black on the other. Shiro black, he thinks. Shiro, the only black paladin that matters to Keith.

A rumble in his head that doesn't come from him or Shiro tries to make a point, but Keith ignores it. _You didn't want to leave when Shiro was hurt. Go away._

Shiro does not look hurt now. Frustrated instead, Keith thinks, and maybe that is why his tentacles keep wandering over to Keith and ... stroking him. 

"You grew tentacles," Keith says, and he's proud of the way that he is able to form full sentences, even though his entire body aches. 

"A Giver," Shiro answers, his voice hoarse. He rocks backwards and forwards, first on his feet, then on his tentacles. 

It is a sight that makes Keith's bones ache even more strongly - Shiro hovering above him, supported by nothing but the two tentacles that aren't stroking Keith's face possessively.

Possessively. Tenderly. Keith groans at the thought of Shiro _possessing_ him, and he feels the tentacles on his face curl more tightly. 

"What are you planning on giving me?" Keith murmurs. "You're too far _away_ , Shiro." 

"I don't want to hurt you," Shiro whispers, but there's hesitation in his answers, and Shiro _never_ hesitates.

"Shiro, _please_ ," Keith pleads, and the tentacle on his face feels like it is starting to pull away, so Keith reaches up - god, it hurts to move - and grasps it in his fist. 

The sound that erupts from Shiro is one that Keith has only imagined in his greatest dreams. It's a lower, and the groan seems to get stuck in Shiro's throat. The four tentacles that Keith isn't holding onto shift to wrap around Keith's shoulders instead of his face. 

The ache in Keith's bones travels straight to his groin. It's torture, and although he has no reason to think it, he knows that Shiro will make the pain lessen.

"Shiro, _please_ ," he begs. "Come here. I _need_ you." 

It's enough. In the dream that might not be a dream, Shiro walks over - on his _tentacles_ \- and hovers above Keith before a soft thump of his boots hitting the floor is followed by Shiro lying down beside him. Fingers and tentacles pull Keith close, and if he is left with only a solitary tentacle stroking his face,the fact that six others have curled around him make up for it.

With Shiro this close, the aching between Keith's legs grows worse. But it is similar to the ache ... the want ... that Keith has always had for Shiro, if only more intense. 

***

Keith is not dreaming. 

He knows this because he is in too much pain to be asleep. But worse than the pain, something indescribable has filled his insides. It's like an itch, in that it desperately needs _taken care of_ , but a _scratch_ won't fix anything. 

He wriggles against Shiro, desperate to have those tentacles provide some sort of friction against his skin. He wriggles against Shiro, knowing that Shiro can feel the proof of Keith's want. Keith doesn't _care_ that Shiro can feel it. 

Shiro's breath hitches, and Keith feels warm lips pressing against his forehead. 

"You're leaking," Shiro says, and it takes a while for Keith to realize what he means.

He rubs against Shiro's legs again, and he can feel the wetness between his own legs. It's not coming from his cock, but it's filled his underwear. He is _soaked_. He doesn't have to move to realize that his rubbing against Shiro is probably soaking him, too.

"Sorry," he mutters, and the word isn't finished before a tentacle reaches up to brush his cheek.

"Don't be," Shiro tells him. "These ... _tentacles_ seem to come with their own never-ending supply of fluid. You're in a Carrier cycle and I'm in a Giver cycle. It makes sense, I guess." 

"It makes sense?" Keith's voice is whiny to his own ears, but the friction between his legs is coming _so close_ to scratching the _itch_ that Keith can't reach. So close, but it's not quite right, and he rubs against Shiro again, a low groan of frustration in his throat.

Shiro shifts next to him, and Keith wriggles more impatiently, trying to get back into the same position. Shiro's chin nestles into the top of Keith's head, and Keith buries his face into Shiro's chest as two tentacles come up to thread their way through Keith's hair. His hair is soaked, too, but at least that's sweat and at least _that_ makes sense. 

"Your body... and mine. Are trying to prepare you." They've raced across the desert, and Shiro hasn't sounded as out of breath then as he does now. 

"For what?" 

The feel of tentacles in his hair is almost relaxing, and Keith leans back into their wriggling, even as he wraps his legs around Shiro's to try to satisfy that _itch._

"For me to mate. With you." It's a confession breathed into the skin of Keith's forehead. It's not something Shiro wants to say, but it is something Keith wants to _hear_. 

"These ..." Keith rocks his head back and forth into the grasp of the tentacles still stroking his hair. "These are supposed to be _inside_ me." 

It makes sense now, to Keith too. The itch that he couldn't name, now he can. Now the desire that he couldn't place, no matter how familiar it had felt, now he knows what it _means_. 

"Show me," Keith pleads. 

Tentacles curl around Keith's waist, and Keith can feel them brush across skin, before Shiro answers. 

"No." 

***

Shiro says no five times before Keith stops counting. 

Keith stops counting, but he doesn't stop begging. He'd accepted a rejection once, but that had been different. Then, Shiro's rejection had seemed less of a death sentence.

"I'd forgotten how good you are ... at saying no," Keith mutters into Shiro's chest. 

Shiro pulls back, and later perhaps Keith will realize that is fair for someone who is hurt, but right now, Keith lets out a cry that is equal parts furious and full of anguish. Shiro, who has told Keith no multiple times, murmurs an apology, and scoots closer.

It's better. It's also worse.

"I love you too," Shiro says, and for a moment, Keith thinks he might be dreaming again. "I never told you. But the clone's memories... I love you too, Keith." 

"Like a brother," Keith repeats. Even now, when he is desperate and pleading, he remembers. It's not, after all, something you forget once the love of your life rejects you as a _brother_. 

"Not ... for a while," Shiro answers. 

It's too much to want, but Keith wants it anyway. The terrible "itch" inside of him has only grown worse, and his bones ache worse than they had when he'd fought the Blades, trying to figure out his past.

He buries his head in Shiro's neck. "Then why?" he asks. "Why _won't_ you?"

"I want. I _have_ to protect you. Always," Shiro says. 

"From what?" Keith demands. 

His lips taste the sweat on Shiro's skin, and it's too much temptation. His plea turns to a kiss, and his kiss turns to an open mouth _tasting_. He expects Shiro to move, but Shiro gasps instead. 

The tentacles clench around him, and then unclench. They do this again, and one more time, before Shiro answers. "The Galra are _monsters_."

" _I'm_ Galra," Keith points out. 

The crook of Shiro's neck tastes so good, and his legs feel both painful and delightful between Keith's legs. Keith bucks up against Shiro as his mouth seeks out Shiro's skin.

"You're Keith," Shiro whispers, but it is too soft to be a whisper. 

"You don't hate all Galra. That's not who you are," Keith argues. 

"No. Not hate," Shiro answers. "But ... their cycles... I've seen it." 

"Who?" Keith demands. "Sendak? The people who kept you captive?" 

Shiro doesn't answer, and he doesn't have to. 

The long, unnecessary pause is _agonizing_ and Keith feels like his insides are on fire. 

"I'm Galra," he repeats. "Kolivan. Mom. The Blades. Do you think they would ... force anyone?" 

"No," Shiro says. And he repeats it, over and over again. "No, no, no." 

But his tentacles don't listen. They slide up Keith's shirt, and stroke his skin, each touch driving Keith to seek out more of Shiro's neck to _taste._

***

Keith might be dreaming. 

But he might not be. Shiro is here, too, and neither of them seem to have moved. 

The images pass, one after another, of Alfor and Zarkon, and later, Honerva. Beneath it, Keith can feel the steady presence of Black. 

Probably not a dream, he thinks. Just their lion, being difficult.

There's laughter. Teasing. Innuendo about wetness and tentacles. Comparative studies in anatomy. 

("Are you saying a Giver can never be penetrated, Zarkon?" 

"I'm saying it's never been done. It is our purpose, after all. But if you think you could do a better job..." 

"Is that a challenge?") 

Beside him, Shiro sighs. 

"Seemed happy," Keith says. "Not like monsters."

"Not at all like monsters," Shiro admits, and it almost sounds hopeful. 

Or maybe Keith is hopeful. Maybe he _is_ because Shiro's tentacles are stroking Keith's bare back the way they had stroked his hair, earlier (Minutes? Hours? Keith isn't sure.) 

"And Zarkon didn't love Alfor, not like -" Keith closes his eyes at the immense ache that courses through him, and he buries his head into Shiro' neck again.

He might have forgotten about what he'd intended to say, but Shiro doesn't. 

"Not like the way I love you," Shiro finishes for him. 

Maybe that's why Keith stopped, after all. Maybe it hadn't been the ache. Maybe it had simply been an inability to be bold enough to speak the words. 

But since Shiro had... "Show me, Shiro," Keith says. "Show me how _much_."

Shiro's chest rises and falls twice, and a solitary tentacle traces the scar on Keith's cheek. "Are you sure?" 

" _Please_ , Shiro." 

Keith has said the words so many times since the "alien puberty" began. But this time, they work.

***


	4. Shiro Is Still A Good Man, But Gets Down to Business

It's so _warm_ inside Black. Shiro doesn't ever remember it being this warm. 

_Different_ is the word that echoes in his mind, and Shiro knows that the words are not his own. It's familiar, even though it shouldn't be. It's familiar, despite the fact that Shiro had believed that his bond with Black was broken permanently.

 _Never_ sounds in his voice, and it is almost as welcome as the way that Keith curls into Shiro's embrace. Keith can't help it, of course, it is his ... cycle. 

_Cycle_. What a word, Shiro thinks. It sounds so _kind_ considering what Shiro knows happens during those "cycles." 

Shiro's still thinking of those cycles when the first stab of pain tears through his spine; he doesn't cry out, because a life time of being used to his body causing him agony has taught him to be silent.

But he closes his eyes, as the scent of blood fills the air. It's his own blood, and the dull, throbbing pain that has been bothering Shiro since they left Earth has now given rise to what can only be described as knife blades against his spine. The image of _blades_ makes Shiro think more strongly of Keith, and for reasons that Shiro doesn't want to admit, that makes the pain in his back worse.

 _I made you stronger_ Haggar taunts him in his mind. _Just as a Giver should be. Take what is yours._

It's not a conversation that Shiro remembers. Is it ... had it been a conversation that Haggar and the clone had engaged in? The idea of _the clone_ taking anything _else_ that belonged to Shiro fills him with fury, and he holds Keith closer, more tightly than he should.

 _He isn't mine_ , Shiro reminds himself. _But he wasn't the clone's either._

While Shiro's conscience wars with itself, Keith stirs in Shiro's arms. 

"I'm cold," Keith murmurs into his chest. 

Shiro bites back a laugh at the comment. It's not funny, of course it isn't. But he's so _warm_ , and Keith is complaining about being _too cold_. 

"You shouldn't be. It's burning up in here," Shiro says.

Keith looks up at him, and the fog of his cycle makes his reactions slower than they would normally be; Shiro knows this, because he has seen worry all over Keith's face before. He knows this also because he has seen worry in his dreams, in memories that Shiro does not think are quite his.

But even in his compromised state, Keith manages to tilt his head up and look directly into Shiro's face. Shiro doesn't miss the shiver that comes over Keith, but Keith forces himself up into a sitting position regardless. 

Because Keith is as brave as he is stubborn, and isn't that why Shiro has never been able to give up on him, even when Keith so desperately believed that Shiro would? 

"You're sick," Keith states. 

Shiro watches, as Keith pulls his hands away from Shiro's back - _No!_ he thinks, desperately - and frowns deeply down at Keith's own hands. 

"You're bleeding," Keith says. Shiro can feel ... something through Black. It's a roar and a denial, and it makes Keith angrily reassert "You're bleeding." 

Shiro has no other explanation to offer than, "Haggar."

It explains so much to him. It should explain plenty to Keith, as well. 

But Shiro is distracted by how much blood and ... (he won't think about what that is with the blood; he won't think about how it is enough to prepare Keith for what Shiro _wants_ and _has wanted_ for so long.

Shiro begins to clean his hand, even has he distantly hears Keith ask what Haggar has done. Shiro shakes his head, because what can he say? That Haggar has made him into an even greater monster than the one Keith had to fight? 

"You're bleeding," Keith says, and worry makes his voice more forceful. 

"The clone body," Shiro says. "She made it stronger."

"Impossible," Keith says. "Strongest man I know."

It's such faith. Such unearned faith that Shiro expects of Keith by now. Shiro squeezes his eyes tightly together, and he doesn't want to discuss just how strong he doesn't feel. He doesn't want to talk about how much he wants to take what isn't his, simply because it's here. 

"Need to take you home," Keith insists. "Can't lose you again."

"Won't," Shiro swears. "Going to stay here and keep you safe."

~~~

The tentacles wiggle inside of him, long after the blood starts, and long before the tentacles burst free of the body that is restricting them. Shiro can feel them, pressing against his spine, and he thinks it should hurt more than it does.

It still isn't pleasant.

There's no denying what is happening. Haggar has turned his body against him and has made him a _Giver_. He's a _monster_ now, even more than the _clone_ ever was.

Shiro knows he has to get away from Keith; it's the only way to keep him safe. He hates to do it, but he slowly untangles himself from Keith's arms. The tentacles will be free soon, and Shiro must keep Keith safe. 

From Keith's lips, Shiro hears his own name, and he has to fight down every urge that cries out to him to remain at Keith's side. 

The tentacles burst forward while Keith dreams, slick with fluid that wants to be inside of Keith, and Shiro focuses all of his willpower on keeping those tentacles near him, instead of allowing them to wander near Keith, as they so desperately itch to do. 

~~~

By the time that Keith wakes again, Shiro has curled himself as far away from Keith as he possibly can. He has tried to flee, but Black will not open for him.

 _Stay_ , Black tells him. _Needed._

 _I don't want to be a monster_ , Shiro argues. 

But there is only silence, and Shiro is still trapped. He can't _leave_ to protect Keith, and more damning of all, he doesn't _want_ to nearly as much as he should. 

The minute that Keith stirs, so too do Shiro's tentacles. They wiggle away from him and it takes all of his willpower to make them behave and not allow them to cross the distance and curl around Keith as he is sure they want to do. 

_As he wants to do._

"What's wrong, Shiro?" Keith asks. "What did Haggar do?" 

"Gave me alien puberty too, it looks like," Shiro says. "Please, Keith, don't ... don't come closer."

He is pleading with Keith now, when it shouldn't be that way. 

_"Givers should be strong,"_ Haggar whispers mockingly in Shiro's head, but Shiro does not feel strong. He has not felt quite this weak since he escaped the Galra. 

"But you aren't ... " Keith doesn't finish the thought, and he doesn't have to. _You aren't Galra_ is a perfectly reasonable response to someone claiming to be going through Galra puberty. Keith is smart, and he figures that out.

Shiro watches him struggle to reach Shiro, and the desire to reach over and protect... no. That wouldn't be protecting. The desire to _touch_ him and _end his suffering_ is nearly overwhelming. 

_But I can't,_ he argues with himself. Because the idea of ending Keith's suffering in the way that the Galra believe in isn't something that Shiro could ever do. He couldn't do it to innocent Galra, and he cannot do it to the person that means more to him than anyone else in the entire universe.

Keith collapses a few feet from Shiro, and each of Shiro's tentacles curl into each other out of frustration.

"The blood," Keith says. "Your puberty? Doesn't look like mine."

There's worry and confusion in Keith's voice. 

_I love you._

Shiro sees the memory from his mind; it isn't his, anyway. It isn't his to _steal_ , to lay claim to... to use as an _excuse_. 

"You're a Carrier," Shiro explains. "I'm... she made me a Giver."

"I still don't know what that means," Keith whispers, before his eyes close.

Oh, how Shiro wishes he didn't understand the meaning. But he does, and what's worse is how much Shiro wants to _give_ Keith everything that it implies. He can clearly imagine how it would feel to use each one of his newly grown limbs to remove every inch of the clothing still standing in Shiro's way. He can imagine how it would feel to have not only two, but nine limbs to touch Keith _everywhere_.

He can't allow it. He must not.

But these new limbs do not make him _strong_. They make him weak, weak enough that he allows one of them the right to slide across the floor and cradle Keith's cheek.

There is a scar there, and Shiro knows that it had been _this body's_ doing. This body cannot be allowed to take anymore liberties. But ... Keith leans into the caress, and Shiro cannot make himself have the self-restraint that he should. 

~~~

Shiro continues to be _weak_. 

He has spent a life time trying to be strong, and trying to prove that he is stronger than everyone has always suggested. He has spent his life rushing off cliffs and piloting space lions and even being captain of his own ship, all to prove that he is not _weak_ , the way the doctors who first diagnosed him believed.

But with Keith he is weak.

With Keith, he gives in and caresses Keith's face. With Keith, Shiro gives in and walks closer to Keith than he should. With Keith... Shiro ends up cuddling on the floor of the Black lion because he cannot stand to hear Keith's pleas go unanswered.

But his greatest weakness of all is the moment that Keith begs Shiro to give in to everything that Shiro wants and Shiro says _yes._

~~~

"Oh, Shiro," Keith whispers, and he is cold to the touch.

He's too cold, and every single one of Shiro's limbs, new and old, want to warm him up. Why is he so cold? Has Shiro waited to long? Has Shiro _hurt_ Keith, when he'd only been trying to make everything better?

"I'm sorry," Shiro says to Keith. "I'm going to make it better; I promise." 

"Promise?" For a moment, there's a brief, cocky grin that flashes over Keith's face, before it is replaced by a grimace of pain. It's a familiar one, and it reminds Shiro of all the times they have raced together. Off of cliffs, in wild space lions, and now: this.

"Do you think you can keep up?" Shiro whispers, as he wills his tentacles to do just what they want; what they want involves curling around Keith's uniform buttons and ripping them from the fabric that ties them down. 

Keith's laugh accompanies the sound of the buttons hitting the floor. "Always, old timer. Even when you are being impatient." 

"I could be slow," Shiro whispers, and his hands glide over Keith's chest, wide with muscle but still dwarfed by Shiro's mechanical hand. His hands glide over the chest, but there are two tentacles that demand _more_ , and they slide between Keith's legs.

Unlike every tentacle memory that Shiro has, his own are gentle with Keith, and yes, they are slow. It takes concentration, but it's not unlike making Atlas form, and the reward of seeing Keith wriggle against every stroke and squeeze is far better than anything Shiro has every experienced in space.

" _Please_ , Shiro," Keith pleads, and the sound of Shiro's name appears to come from deep within Keith, so sincere is the desire. 

How could Shiro have ever denied him this?

"Please what, Keith?" Shiro asks. "Tell me what you _want._ Let me give you what you want. Help me not to be a monster."

Keith shakes his head, the denial ready to come, but then he looks at Shiro, and his eyes have never been so purple as they are now. "I want you inside of me," he whispers, or perhaps it is a demand. 

"Are you sure?" Shiro asks, and he strokes Keith again, just to hear Keith's groan turn to a low whimper of pure want. 

" _Yes_." Keith's answer is breathy and needy, and Shiro's ego fills with the knowledge that he has made Keith sound that beautiful, not this ridiculous alien puberty. 

He wants to keep making Keith sound that way. 

"If you're sure," Shiro says. "But what part of me do you want inside of you?" 

"All of you," Keith answers. " _All_ of you."

~~

It's wrong to be jealous of his own body, Shiro supposes, but in fairness, he doesn't know how much longer these tentacles will actually belong to him; this also isn't technically his own body

So he will fulfill Keith's request, but it is his own cock that gets to fuck Keith first.

Shiro is glad that Galra physiology removed any need for lube, because he doesn't _want _to take the time to prep either of them. He only wants to use his tentacles to hold Keith's legs up, to steady his shaky, but needy body, and to continue to stroke him while Shiro thrusts into him.__

__Keith wriggles against the tentacles, and bucks against them, too, and it's no surprise that he is a lover that does not want to sit still, but Shiro still needs to be sure._ _

__"Is this what you wanted?" he manages between grunts. "Are you still _sure_?"_ _

__"Yes," Keith moans, and it's so _fond_ that Shiro can't help but cradle his face, once again. _ _

__"Long ... as you ... can keep up," Shiro murmurs between thrusts._ _

__In reply, Keith looks at Shiro and then takes an entire tentacle into his mouth._ _

__Shiro's world explodes into a burst of pleasure that is better than any orgasm he has ever had._ _

__~~~_ _

__When Shiro's tentacles aren't in his mouth, Keith is a surprisingly vocal lover. Shiro marvels over that now, and will marvel more later, when he has had time to compare his mental image of Keith with reality._ _

__He's always expected Keith to be quiet. Active, yes, but never so vocal._ _

__But Keith won't stop saying his name. It sounds all at once like a prayer and like a plea, too dirty to be anywhere near a church and too holy to be anywhere else._ _

__A litany of Shiro's name fills the Black lion. "I love you" accompanies Shiro's name. It isn't the first time and it isn't the last, but Shiro won't return the words while Keith is still in this state._ _

__Not yet._ _

__~~~_ _

__Shiro does not know if Haggar gifted him with enhanced stamina, or if Keith is simply under the affects of his cycle. Perhaps they are both under the affects of their respective cycles. Either way, Keith comes over and over before Shiro finishes his first round._ _

__Keith looks up at Shiro, flushed with a shade too dark to be red, but too pale to be Galra, all over his cheeks. "Nice first try, old timer," he says. "Tired?"_ _

__"You did let me do all the work," Shiro says. "Your turn."_ _

__Shiro lays on his back, and five tentacles curl underneath Keith to hold him steady. A sixth one slides back around Keith's cock._ _

__When the seventh tentacle enters Keith, for a moment, his eyes go wide, and he falls silent. Shiro does not have time to worry before Keith throws back his head and begins to offer his pleas in the form of Shiro's name, all over again._ _

__Shiro can feel being inside of Keith, and he can feel it all through his body. He won't stop this, he knows, until Keith asks him to, and the wriggling, delighted, guttural cries make it clear that won't be happening for a while._ _

__~~~_ _

__The resting that Keith had needed before Shiro _gave in_ apparently had been enough to see him through, because Keith does not need a rest._ _

__If his _Carrier_ does not need a rest, then the _Giver_ will not rest, either._ _

__And so, they don't; alone except for their lion as a witness, they take and give what both have craved. Keith pleads for every touch that Shiro delivers, and Shiro drinks in every verbal desire he is blessed to hear. The same coordination and bond that allowed them to fly together, race together, and spar together now allows them to match one another in kiss, in touch, and in utter _need.__ _

__Until, of course, rest actually _is_ needed. When that time comes, Shiro and Keith curl into one another, tentacles wrapped firmly around Keith, and they both fall asleep, secure in the knowledge that they are with the person who would fight death itself to save them._ _

__~_ _

__When Shiro awakes, he is sticky and cold; his tentacles are gone._ _

__But his arms are still around Keith, and Keith hasn't moved either. Keith is awake, though, and is staring at Shiro. For a brief moment, Shiro is reminded of the scared cadet who thought Shiro would give up on him._ _

__It throws Shiro for a minute. But then he realizes, with a horrifying clarity, why Keith looks so uncertain. He remembers, and no doubt Keith does too, all the cries of devotion that have gone on unanswered for the past ... hours? days?_ _

___Weeks_ , Black supplies. _All my Paladins. So stubborn.__ _

__"Shiro," Keith begins, but Shiro stops him with a finger to Keith's lips._ _

__"I love you too," he whispers. Surprised silence greets his confession, so Shiro goes on. "You know... there are people who say I'm not very good at relationships. My grandparents believed that. Adam believed that. And sometimes I believe it, too. But you ... you are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and I have loved you since the first time we greeted a sunset together. I have _wanted_ you since the day you rescued me from the Garrison officers trying to do the right thing. I have _been in love with you_ since we sat down in front of a fire on a distant planet and talked about the future." _ _

__He stops there, because Keith looks like he is struggling to say something. And maybe he would, but Shiro stops him with a kiss. There's no hesitation in returning the kiss, just pure enthusiasm, and Shiro could almost allow himself to get carried away._ _

__Again._ _

__But Black begins to move, and reluctantly, Shiro and Keith break apart._ _

__"We should get home," Shiro says. "We've apparently been gone for weeks."_ _

__"The other Paladins must be worried," Keith says, sitting up. He takes a moment to look for his clothes, which, apparently, Shiro had been none too careful in discarding. There's no hope for the Garrison uniform, though, which sits on Keith like a jacket. They will never find the buttons, of that, Shiro is sure._ _

__"Oh, I think that your mom and Kolivan... might be ... running interference," Shiro suggests._ _

__Keith grimaces. "Mom explaining our weird alien puberty is definitely not going to be the highlight of Hunk or Lance's day."_ _

__"No, but Pidge will probably love it," Shiro teases._ _

__Keith stops short of the pilot chair, offering it silently to Shiro. Shiro shakes his head. "It's all yours. Take us home, so we can apologize and ... figure out the future."_ _

__Keith's blush isn't quite purple anymore, but it isn't red, either. It's somewhere in between, and that is a pretty good summation of where they are right now._ _


	5. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some season 8 spoilers. I took some things from season 8, chopped them up, and rearranged them.

Kolivan and Krolia greet them, along with the other Paladins, when they arrive back on Earth. Acxa is there too, and she gives Keith the same careful once over that Krolia gives as they depart Black.

"Ew, naked Keith," Lance greets. "Does this mean I lost the bet?" 

"Oh, it _does_ ," Allura says smugly. 

"Oh, yeah. You owe the rest of us big time," Hunk says, slinging an arm around Lance's shoulder. 

"You bet on whether or not we were going to have sex?" Keith asks bluntly. 

"Come on! You two have been oblivious to each other for the _entire time_ were in space," Lance huffs. "It was an easy bet to make."

"And yet, you still lost," Hunk says cheerfully. 

Shiro shakes his head at them, and turns to Krolia. "I'm sorry," he apologizes. "I shouldn't have just ... ran off with your son. But ..."

"A Giver's cycle can make their minds not quite right," Kolivan says. "As you no doubt witnessed under Zarkon's regime. But, Keith is here and the problem absolved. Even if it doesn't usually... take this long." 

"They do have literally years of built up sexual tension to take care of," Lance points out. "I mean, if they were going to make me lose a bet, they might as well get the best out of it." 

"Maybe you shouldn't have bet _against_ us in the first place," Keith retorts. 

Krolia, apparently appeased in her assessment, turns to Shiro and smiles, and Keith is relieved to see them getting along so well. But of course they would. They are the two people that he loves most in the universe, and they both know that. "I'm glad you have returned safe and sound. But we need to have Keith examined right away." 

"I'm fine," Keith says firmly. "Come on, Shiro would never hurt me." 

"No, he wouldn't," Krolia agrees easily. "But that's not why you need to be examined. You left before you could fully be ... made ... ready for mating." 

"Well, that's certainly one way to describe the act," Hunk says, and his face matches the way that Keith feels. 

"And I'm fairly certain that Shiro's time with Zarkon did not ... familiarize him with the potential ramifications," Krolia says gently.

"Wait, what?" Pidge makes a face that would be comical, if Keith hadn't been so confused. "You make it sound like you're worried Keith got pregnant or something." 

The long pause is a better answer than any of them really wanted to a question Keith hadn't even begun to consider.

~~~ 

Keith demands the right of a shower first, and he demands that Shiro takes it with him. 

The first is an actual demand anyway, and the second is a silent plea that ends up with Shiro kissing him beneath water that runs cold far too soon. 

"I'm sorry," Shiro tells him. "I really didn't ... I mean. My memories are fuzzy, but I wasn't actually ... I guess I knew that the Galra _fuck_ that way, but I didn't register that they _mate_ that way. It should have." 

"It's okay, Shiro," Keith says. "The cycles - you heard Kolivan. Giver cycles interfere with your ability to think. I understand ... if it's not something you want, but - "

"Hey." Shiro interrupts Keith to kiss him, and it still feels like the first kiss in Keith's heart and belly. "You know, having a family was something I never thought I was going to be able to do, Keith. Between my disease and my inability to be good at relationships - "

"You aren't _bad_ at relationships," Keith argues, and it's loud enough that it echoes in the shower stall that's far to small for both of them to squeeze into. "You are just bad at relationships that don't _work._ And that's a good thing. Like Lance and all the women he was terrible at flirting with."

"Because he really wanted to be with Allura," Shiro says and his laughter is as bright as the sun. "I guess my heart was smarter than me all along." 

"Took a while for you to catch up with me _and_ your heart, old timer," Keith says, and he wishes his voice wasn't so shaky, but it is. 

"Mmm. I'll try to listen to both of you more in the future," Shiro promises. He leans into Keith's ear and presses a palm to Keith's still flat stomach. "And right now, my heart is telling me how very loved and wanted our child will be, if you choose to have it." 

Keith sags against Shiro in relief, and breathes in the familiarity, warmth, and affection. 

~~~

"Well," Kolivan says many minutes later, after the results are in and they are gathered in an exam room that is not meant for this many people. "You should be congratulated. Two eggs are a rare occurrence indeed." 

"Two!" Krolia says, and she looks so ridiculously happy that Keith can't believe he has ever been worried about this. Shiro is happy. His mom is happy. Keith is happy.

The rest of the universe doesn't matter, he thinks stubbornly.

"Wait, did you say eggs?" Shiro asks, and his face is scrunched up in confusion. It's an important point because rarely has Keith ever seen Shiro look genuinely confused. 

"Of course I did," Kolivan says simply. "As a result of your successful cycles, Keith is now carrying two eggs." 

"You mean the ... tentacles fertilized the eggs already inside Keith?" Pidge asks, which makes sense, and of course she asks. Keith only feels a little uncomfortable at the question, because after all, he is confused too, now that they are discussing logistics.

"No, of course not. Shiro deposited the eggs inside of Keith," Acxa says with a sigh. "Humans cannot be _this_ different from the Galra."

"Oh, trust me, they are!" Lance says. "Nobody is inserting eggs into anyone on this planet. You know, except Keith." 

Acxa scowls at Lance. "I have seen the way humans have sex. I cannot believe they are that different from us." 

"Galra and Alteans reproduce differently too," Allura chimes in. "But they are definitely ... compatible. Sexually." 

Shiro looks at Keith and in that moment, Keith knows they are both thinking about Alfor and Zarkon. They share a grimace.

"Wait, how do you know so much about humans and sex?" Lance asks. 

"Do you ever talk to your sister?" Acxa asks, and it is then that Keith can feel the headache coming on.

"Hey, do you need some alone time?" Hunk asks. "I mean, this is a lot. Even for a leader of Voltron who used to be a secret super spy and who brought back his boyfriend with the power of true love a few times in a way that would make the entirety of Disney's princesses jealous, it's still a lot." 

"Yes, actually," Keith says. "That would be great. Shiro and I could use some alone time." 

Lance is still complaining as they leave. Kolivan and Acxa leave next, and only Krolia hesitates. 

"If you are going to tell me the specifics about how you and Dad mated, please don't," Keith begs. 

She shakes her head. "I wanted to share with you... the cycles between a Giver and Carrier aren't enough to bond us together. Your father and I never shared one, because he wasn't compatible... in that way. But we loved each other very much. Acxa and I did share one, but her bond is with Veronica, and mine with Kolivan. The bond you and Shiro have - never think it is anything other than the result of how the two of you feel." 

She squeezes his shoulder, tight enough that her nails dig into his skin, before she leaves.

Shiro sits down on the edge of the bed and asks, "Are you sure you don't want me to go too?" 

"That's one thing I'll always be sure of," Keith says. "No matter what ever happens, I want to share it with you. You... you're too important to me, Shiro. I can't walk away from this. Not ever." 

"I'm so glad," Shiro says. "Because I can't imagine a future without you in it." 

~~~

And so, they decide to have the eggs. 

"It feels weird," Lance says, "Calling them eggs. And I mean, if Shiro just laid a couple eggs inside Keith... not to be totally gross or anything ... but how ... uh, are they Keith's at all?" 

"Oh, that's easy!" Veronica tells him as she enthusiastically eats her chicken salad that doesn't really resemble chicken salad at all. "Once the eggs are laid, they are fertilized within the Carrier's stomach. Literally, the Giver gives the eggs and the Carrier fertilizes and carries them to term."

Lance glances down at his _egg salad_ and makes a face. 

It is the highlight of Keith's day, right up until Shiro comes in, sits next to him, and gives Keith's stomach a gentle squeeze. 

"How's the teaching going, Mister Flight Instructor?" Shiro asks. 

"I'm being punished for all my past sins as a student," Keith tells him. "How's life as an Admiral, Sir?" 

"The military kink really has to stop at the _eating_ table," Lance complains. "It's bad enough you made me lose my bet and I had to let the rest of the Paladins watch me _do farm work for a day._ Farm work! I'm not meant to be a farmer!" 

"Don't be bitter because you're the only one at this table with a terrible love life, Lance," Keith says bluntly. 

"Hey!"

"It's true. If you won't stand up and tell the princess how you feel, nothing's ever going to happen," Veronica says, equally bluntly. 

~~~

Something does happen, apparently, because the first obnoxious present that Keith receives for the "eggs" are from "Allura _and_ Lance," and he grins at the tag before he hands them to Shiro. 

"I'm glad they finally got sorted out," Shiro says. 

"I'm glad, too," Keith agrees. "But I always figured they would." 

Shiro opens the presents, which is good, because Keith's feet are beginning to hurt in a way he doesn't want to admit yet and all he wants to do after a long day of teaching is sit down and rest. 

Shiro holds up the presents: a red and black teddy bear. They look to be sturdy, in a way that would survive human children, and there's no doubt that "Uncle" Lance picked them out. 

"That's a sweet gift," Shiro says. "You think they won any bets on being the first person to get us a gift?" 

"Mom and Kolivan are going to be really mad, if so," Keith says.

~

"It's impractical to give infants gifts," Kolivan says as they relax after dinner in the quarters that Keith and Shiro share. "But your mother and I will be leaving soon, and she has assured me this is tradition with your people." 

"We are combining traditions," Krolia says firmly. "Normally, I would give you my blade. It would be yours, to pass on to my grandchildren. But you already have that, and it has already served you well." 

"It's part of the reason you are able to have grandchildren," Shiro says quietly. 

Keith squeezes his hand, and Krolia extends her gift. It isn't wrapped. Instead, the small figurine of a cowboy in a hat looks up at Keith from the palm of his hand. 

He feels his throat get tight. 

"A decoration. Some might call it sentimental, but ... it is a worthy sentiment," Krolia says firmly. 

"It is," Shiro agrees. "It's wonderful, Krolia. Thank you." 

Krolia steps forward to hug Keith, and so it falls to Kolivan to hand the next present to Shiro. 

"I have not given my blade yet," he says. "But I trust this one will be in good hands." 

"Come back," Keith whispers in his mother's ear. "Come back and see them." 

"I will," she promises. 

After they leave, Keith says, "You know, I think we have to name one of them Yorak now." 

"Yeah, pretty much guaranteed." 

~~~ 

After the universe is saved and they _almost lose Allura_ , they do lose the lions. It makes Shiro feel inexplicably sad for a moment. Perhaps it is because he can feel Black saying goodbye. 

_Goodbye, my Paladins. Raise the cubs well._

It feels like the loss of an old friend. 

Standing there, watching the lions make the sacrifice to save Allura, Shiro turns to look at Keith. "I think we earned a vacation. How do you feel about Japan?" 

As it turns out, Keith feels really good about Japan. He feels even better once he meets Shiro's brother and grandfather, who accept the news of a partial alien offspring on the way better than most people would. 

"Takashi always spoke so fondly of you," Ryou says as they walk among the gardens of the family home. "It's a pleasure to finally meet someone who matters so much to my brother." 

"He means so much to me too," Keith says earnestly, because the man is a stranger, and he does not know the history that Shiro and Keith share. It's important that he know, though, how much Shiro is worth to him. 

Ryou looks so much like Sven had when he looks serious. "I didn't need to be told that, Keith. It's obvious. Now tell me, have you discussed names? It's better that I ask before Grandfather does. He'll be much more nosy." 

"Yorak," Shiro chimes in. "The other one is to be decided, though we owe a particular debt to our Black Lion, so we were thinking something along those lines." 

"Kuro," Ryou suggests, and Shiro can't hold back the shudder.

But later, he lies in bed next to Keith, who lies on his side with his arms wrapped around Shiro, and he can't fall asleep.

"Yorak and Kuro," Shiro says softly. "I think... I think it's right." 

Keith looks at him, uncertain. "You and Kuron have a lot of ... issues. You sure the name won't bother you?"

"It won't," Shiro promises. "Yorak ... pays homage to the life that your mother gave up, in order to save the universe. And ... Kuron... Kuron loved you, and had to give that up, in order for you to be safe. Evil clone that he might have been... his life was still sacrificed to save mine. Maybe we should honor our children with names bestowing the honor of both of their lineages." 

"Yeah," Keith says softly. "I'd like that." 

~~

"How does the naming work?" Hunk asks when they return. 

In their absence, Shay has moved into Hunk's living quarters, and apparently, so has Matt Holt. So it is the three of them sitting on the couch while Pidge and Matt explain video games to Shay on the floor. 

"What do you mean?" Shiro asks while Keith finishes off his fifth brownie. It's delicious, and Keith doesn't even like brownies that much.

Apparently Yorak and Kuro do. 

"You know, do they have gender associations? Is Yorak a dude Galra or a female Galra name? Is Kuro fit for a girl or a boy, or both or ...?" Hunk asks.

"Well, the eggs are at least a quarter alien - if not more, thanks to Haggar's ... manipulations," Keith says. "I think it probably doesn't matter." 

"Earth gender naming conventions are stupid anyway," Matt offers from the floor. 

"Definitely," Pidge agrees. 

"They don't make a lot of sense," Shay says. 

Keith grins as Hunk shrugs and offers him another brownie. It's almost as delicious as the presents that come from Hunk (and apparently Matt and Shay, as well.) The present is a projector that offers the most realistic stars to ever grace a child's bedroom ceiling.

"I had one of these," Shiro tells Keith as they hook it up in the spare room that will be a nursery. "But it was never this great. These look... like the view from inside of our lions." 

There are stars and planets and other celestial bodies, and if their children are anything at all like their parents, Yorak and Kuro are going to love it.

"Yours wasn't designed by two geniuses," Keith says, his voice soft and full of wonder.

Shiro throws an arm over his shoulder and kisses his ear. "Our babies are never going to doubt that they are loved," he promises.

Keith knows this, and he knows it more with each ridiculous present they receive, but it's nice to hear. 

~~~

"So, you're very busy," Pidge says, when she shows up at their door with what looks to be like an actual robot. "And once the twins arrive, you are only going to be more busy. Kosmo is going to be an amazing nanny, but he doesn't have any opposable thumbs. Thus, you need a nanny who does. And who can also teleport, to keep up with Kosmo." 

"You designed a robot who can teleport?" Shiro asks sleepily, as he wipes the remainder of sleep out of his eyes. "And you're giving it to us, not the Garrison?"

"The Garrison doesn't need a teleporting robot. You do," Pidge says simply. "His name's Chip." 

~~~

The presents are lovely, but life goes on. The universe might be safe, but each of them have lives to live, and a month before the babies are due, Allura, Romelle, Coran, and Lance reveal that they are going to New Altea. 

"I ... was prepared to allow them to lead themselves," Allura announces. "But that is apparently not their wish. They have asked me to be queen, and to honor my father, and all we have fought for, I must go." 

"It is all very exciting," Coran says, sniffling, whether with sadness or pride, it is hard to tell. "But I know that she and the prince consort will make an amazing ruling duo, just as they worked so well in their lions together!" 

Keith thinks about teasing the prince consort, but instead, gives him a hug. Shiro does too, and everyone promises to keep in touch, before leaving behind two blankets knitted by Coran.  
~~~

To Keith's great surprise, _they do_ keep in touch. 

So do Kolivan and Krolia.

So do Hunk, Matt, and Shay, even as they begin their official duties as Garrison diplomats. 

~~~

Yorak's egg comes first and hatches within an hour. She has a head full of beautiful black hair and a mole underneath earth slightly pointed ear. 

Kuro's egg comes second and hatches two hours after his sister's. His hair is so black that it looks purple, which matches the faint markings that spread just underneath his cheekbones. 

~~~

"They look like Vulcans," Pidge says, once Keith feels up to having visitors. 

"They do!" Chip says excitedly. "Not pointed enough to be Alteans or Galra. But definitely Vulcans." 

Chip hasn't left their side since the twins were born, and neither has Kosmo. They really are going to be great nannies. 

Iverson gives Pidge and Chip a look of annoyance. "It'd be nice to meet some nice, quiet Vulcans," he grumbles. "Especially now that I've lost my two best pilots." 

"Who says you've lost us?" Shiro demands. "You didn't think this was going to ground us, did you?" 

Iverson looks at them both and then shakes his head. "I did, but I guess I forgot how stubborn you both are."

"I _am_ still the Captain of the Atlas," Shiro points out. "And we leave next week on a _diplomatic_ mission to New Altea. Maybe we'll find some Vulcans along the way." 

Iverson laughs. "Just can't keep you away from the stars, can I, Shirogane?" 

Shiro leans down and kisses first Yorak, then Kuro, and finally Keith. "No," Shiro says. "They're too bright." 

And so too is their future.


End file.
